A Sailor and a Nurse, Aug. 15, 1945

Published: March 20, 1991

To the Editor:

In commenting on the appearance of victory T-shirts for sale on Broadway hours after the war ended, Anna Quindlen ("The Microwave War," column, March 3) makes reference to a photograph taken in Times Square on Aug. 15, 1945, following the news of Japan's surrender to end World War II. Pictured was not a soldier, but a sailor, kissing a nurse -- and it is indeed "one of our great visual images of the euphoria that can accompany victory and peace." It ranks among the dozen or so finest news photographs ever taken, snapped by the Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

The glory of the picture is in the action of the figures and the striking contrast of the dark blue of the sailor and the white uniform of the nurse. Alfred Eisenstaedt has said that had the pair been wearing uniforms of the same tone he would not have taken the photograph.

At 92, his cameras put away, Alfred Eisenstaedt can look back at a career as perhaps the greatest of all photojournalists. PAUL SELIGMAN New York, March 11, 1991 The writer is a photographer and author.